Wendy Greuel for L.A. mayor: Los Angeles News Group endorsement

Before Los Angeles goes to the polls next month to choose a new mayor, voters must ask themselves: Which candidate has the strongest combination of qualifications, political skill and personal character? Which of the eight people on the ballot can best represent city residents' diverse interests? Which man or woman has the best chance to lead L.A. back from the fiscal brink?

This newspaper's editorial board has weighed those questions and found a clear answer. It's Wendy Greuel.

Greuel, the city controller and former city councilwoman who worked in the Clinton administration, is the only candidate who has held citywide office and served in government outside the flawed culture of L.A. City Hall. She is the only candidate who has valuable experience in private business along with a government resume, having been an executive in the entertainment industry for five years before her City Council stint. She has received not only much-scrutinized endorsements from labor unions but also support from important business leaders, perhaps reflecting the sensibility of her power base in the San Fernando Valley.

And Greuel shows the potential to take on stubborn interests - namely public-employee unions - that stand in the way of cutting the city workers' generous retirement benefits and salaries.

Eric Garcetti, Greuel's chief rival in the election, inspires no such confidence.

With a handful of candidates likely to win substantial percentages of the vote in the March 5 primary election, it seems certain that none will gain an outright majority, and the top two will go into a runoff on May 21.

The dream runoff would match Greuel against Kevin James. As the election's only Republican and making his first run for public office, James has lobbed effective criticisms at the three "government insider" candidates. A race against James would bring out the best in Greuel, forcing her to toughen her resolve to pursue fiscally moderate - even conservative - solutions to the city's budget deficits and business impediments.

Voters who are inclined to consider a government outsider for mayor should know that James is not merely a vessel for protest against the ways of City Hall but a credible candidate for the office in his own right. An attorney and former talk-radio host who led AIDS Project Los Angeles, he knows L.A. government and has been the most effective communicator on the stage at this year's long series of mayoral debates. Although conservative leaders have not rallied around him this time, he deserves a big future in politics if he wants it.

Five candidates have reached the threshold in fundraising and polling to participate in recent forums.

Jan Perry, the city councilwoman representing the district south of downtown, has brought to the campaign some much-needed blunt talk and an instinct for improving business conditions. City Hall would be better with more elected officials like her.

Emanuel Pleitez, a 30-year-old technology executive, non-profit organization founder and former aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, has earned an ardent following with calls to lift underserved L.A. communities. His time may come.

Then there is Garcetti, whose City Council district includes Hollywood, Silver Lake and Atwater Village. Garcetti is smart and likeable, and he looks and sounds the part of mayor (like Villaraigosa). But the suspicion persists that Garcetti is too nice for the task of running L.A. - too cautious, too easily pushed around, too eager to please the audience in front of him; witness his feeble attempt at Thursday's debate in Northridge to avoid saying if he supports the incumbent in a key school-board race.

At one time, the same suspicion could have applied to Greuel. In 2008, when she ran for city controller (and won), the Daily News did not endorse her, believing her opponent displayed a greater capacity to go against political allies for the good of the whole city.

But in 2013, it was a different Greuel who showed up for a meeting with members of this editorial board. Lightly pounding the table to emphasize key points, she responded to criticisms with polite ferocity; this was the day opponents slammed her call for 2,000 more police officers, a goal she said had been misrepresented in the press as an unaffordable promise. She left little doubt she is sharp enough to realize the next mayor will be made or broken by his or her success at tackling the costs of city government.

It should be her. We believe Greuel would make L.A. proud as the first woman to lead the nation's second most populous city. She has the combination of experience, know-how and personal qualities to be a fine mayor.